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Ryan Dalziel captured the pole for the 50th-anniversary Rolex 24 at Daytona with a lap of 1:41.119 at 126.741 mph. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Ryan Dalziel overcame engine failure that wiped out an entire practice session and rallied to put together the best lap of the day on Thursday as he put his Starworks Motorsport car on the pole for the 50th-anniversary Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway.

Dalziel drove his No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Ford/Riley to the pole position with a lap of 1:41.119 at 126.741 mph.

"Maybe sometimes the underdogs aren't supposed to beat the powerhouse teams," said Dalziel, who dueled SunTrust Racing's Max Angelelli for the pole in a furious 15-minute qualifying session on the 3.56-mile road course. "But what has happened at Starworks the past four or five months is that we've tried to create a powerhouse team, hired the right people and put together an unbelievable car. I think the No. 8 car is not only going to be a contender this weekend, but a contender the entire year."

Dalziel bested the provisional pole time of Angelelli's Corvette just three minutes into qualifying. Angelelli regained the top spot until six minutes remained, when Dalziel turned in his pole-winning time.

Angelelli will start second and Scott Dixon's No. 02 Target/Telmex BMW/Riley will start third when the green flag drops on North America's most prestigious endurance race on Saturday.

In the GT class, Andrew Davis will start on the pole in his No. 59 Brumos Racing Porsche GT3. The front-of-the-class grid changed seemingly every lap of the 15-minute session before Davis posted a late lap at 1:49.342 (117.210 mph) to put the famed No. 59 on pole.

"It was an intense session," said Davis, who was bumped from the provisional pole three times before regaining it for good with two minutes left. "I just pushed it as hard as I could from the first lap out."

Davis's main competition came from Jeff Segal's No. 69 AIM Autosport/Team FXDD Ferrari 458 Italia Grand Am (1:49.357 at 117.194 mph) and Andy Lally's No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche GT3 (1:49.388 at 117.161 mph), and they claimed the second and third spots on the grid for Saturday's race.

Shelby Blackstock captured the GS pole with a lap of 109.051 mph in the No. 51 Starstruck Entertainment Ford Mustang Boss 302 R. He will be joined on the front row by teammate Jack Roush Jr., who ran 108.923 mph in the No. 61 Roush Performance Ford Mustang Boss 302 R.

Kia not only won its first pole in Street Tuner competition but also swept the front row in qualifying. Denied the GT pole in the late stages of Rolex Series qualifying, Lally ran a lap of 101.222 mph in the No. 10 Kinetic/Kia Motors America Kia Forte Koup to capture his fifth career Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge pole and break the Daytona International Speedway ST track record in the process.